by Translating movie titles is something of an obscure art. With the exception of 2006’s Snakes on a Plane, a lot of thought goes into choosing a name for a film that succinctly sums up its premise, but also sounds good, catches the attention of potential viewers, and sells the film.
This complicates the translation of titles. In English, “Jaws” sounds more powerful and emotional than “Shark,” but translated directly into another language, it could sound like a sequel to an anatomy documentary. As a result, film titles often change completely. And most bizarrely, they’re sometimes translated into a more direct description of the film in English (if you’re looking for things to watch, check out our picks of the best films on design).
For some *ridiculous* reason, the French love to translate film titles from English to EnglishMarch 8, 2023
A designer on Twitter has pointed out that such English-to-English translations are very popular in France, where many Hollywood films are given titles that read like very blunt plot synopses…a bit like Snakes on a Plane. “Hangover” becomes “Very Bad Trip”, “The Other Guys” becomes “Very Bad Cops”, “No Strings Attached” becomes the more direct “Sex Friends”, “Step Up 2” becomes “Sexy Dance 2″ and ” Not Another Teen Movie” is renamed. Sex Academy”.
It’s almost as if a new language is being born here: French Cinema English, and the phrases “very bad”, “sex” and “sexy” are a must. To celebrate the comically bizarre trend, Juan Bus (opens in new tab) thought about how other film titles might be translated for the French market and designed fun posters that implement some of the best suggestions.
On his posters for French film titles, Titanic becomes Very Bad Ship, Batman becomes Sexy Bat, the 40-year-old virgin becomes No Sex Man… and Twilight? ‘Sexy vampire’, obviously.
some classic movies could *really* use a new title for the french market “titanic” won’t work in france so… pic.twitter.com/FRkdq4SXbkMarch 9, 2023
People are replying to the thread with more suggestions, also for other products as well as films, and it’s getting harder and harder to tell which localizations used in France are real and which are jokes. Why do French translators do this?
Well, as a translator, I can attest that translating a title, be it for a novel or a film, is one of the toughest jobs one can get. Often you would like to keep the original, but you know that most people in the target market will not understand it. In many countries, a large proportion of the population has a good command of English, but not to the point of understanding subtle puns or cultural references.
The Tom Cruise movie Knight and Day would only look to many people as having a typo in the title, so in France it was simply called Night and Day, eschewing the pun. English is held to show that it is a Hollywood film, a fact that sells and often simply because it sounds better and is more succinct and direct than any alternative anyone could think of. It gives all visiting tourists giggles as a bonus.
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